Finding my First love again

Revelations 2:1-6

1 To the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him Who holds the seven stars [which are the messengers of the seven churches] in His right hand, Who goes about among the seven golden lampstands [which are the seven churches]:

² I know your industry and activities, laborious toil and trouble, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot tolerate wicked [men] and have tested and critically appraised those who call [themselves] apostles (special messengers of Christ) and yet are not, and have found them to be impostors and liars.

³ I know you are enduring patiently and are bearing up for My name’s sake, and you have not fainted or become exhausted or grown weary.

⁴ But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love].

⁵ Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God’s will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], or else I will visit you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent.

⁶ Yet you have this [in your favor and to your credit]: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans [what they are doing as corrupters of the people], which I Myself also detest.

something just speaks to me, when I was reading this, I hear many a times in worship, the phrase finding my first love again, or going back to my first love and all. I couldn't really understand it fully but I knew it meant God and that was good enough. But today I read the above it kinda swung a new perspective in all that I have been thinking and doing. I was reading what the church of Ephesus did according to Revelations, it seemed all well, you know dicerning teachings that were false, enduring, bearing Christ's name and not giving up or falling weary on such things.. Yet the thing that Christ holds against them just blew me away. 

You have left the love that you had first! When I read this, it really hits the nail on the head, that we can do so much, and miss the point, miss who it was at first that is the foremost important, the one whose relationship we should seek out most of all. This has been on me for many days, that if we are doing everything a Christian is suppose to do, BUT the most important thing, then we are all missing the mark by a space shot... By that I mean, we love each other, care, we give to the poor, reject heresy's, accept those who come back into repentance and so forth... But we forget God, forget Jesus, forget everything about them, not that we forget them in a sense that we can't recall who they are or what they have done, nah, if we did then we wouldn't be able to bear His name sake, what I am talking about here is forgetting to commune with God, to speak to Him, to seek Him, and even to embrace Him. It is true, we can pray prayerless things. What do I mean by this? we pray, out of duty, not out of our hearts and minds towards God as a person, but pray and not be attentive to who we pray to, and make it some ritual, when you talk to someone, you talk to them. Just as you talk to God, you talk to Him, you build a relationship with Him, and you rejoice with Him. 

Just a thought of mine when I read this. But the beautiful part of it all, is when you do find your first love again, you realise how amazing His love is for us, forgiving and gracious. When we find out first love again, we can smile and thank Him for all He has done. Give Him the praise and honour and glory, and live a life with Him.

Father, Today I pray, I thank you, and I honour you. Keep my feet in your presence, and my eyes fixated upon you. I thank you for your grace, your love, and your mercy. I thank you for all you have done, forgive me for walking away, or around you. Thank you for always being there, always being faithful, I return to you, my first love. Teach me daily, walk with me, I know you will. I praise your name and my your kingdom reign forever and ever.

Amen.  

Psalm of exaltation

(plucking, psalm, literal to pluck)

C Em Am G x2 (intro)

C Em Am G

Constant and wonderful,

C Em Am G

Full of love and hope,

C Em Am G

Ever present and ever seeking,

C Em Am G

Comforter and ruler,

C Em Am G

The perfect Sacrifice.

C Em Am G

Never failing,

C Em Am G

Always ruling,

C Em Am G

Healer, and maker of all things.

C E Am E

Fill our hearts with light,

C E Am E

Fill our hearts with your glory,

C E Am E

Consume us with your fire,

C E Am E

Purify us in your love.

C Em Am G

C Em Am G

Seeker of the lost,

C Em Am G

And restorer of hope.

C Em Am G

Truth and life,

C Em Am G

Bread of life.

C Em Am G

The blood that cleanses.

C Em Am G

Ever seeking,

C Em Am G

Ever open,

C Em Am G

Embracer of those who return.

C E Am E

Fill our hearts with light,

C E Am E

Burn within us a passion,

C E Am E

Your unrelenting love.

C E Am E

Cause us to love.

To my Father

There is truly none like you Father,
There's really no one who could compare to you.

The greatest human pales in comparison to the weakest in you.
You formed the stars and galaxies in the skies,
in the heavens you spoke your word and made this world.
With your breath you gave life, to the empty body.

You called bones without hope into your glory,
You called those without purpose to find hope,
You caused the foolish to be wise
and the weak to strength!

God, My Father in Heaven, who made the universe,
whose Kingdom reigns forever in glory,
The one who set me apart, who made the most inavluable thing,
to store great treasures within!
You are Great!
You are Magnificient!
In you I will find my peace, My guidance, my substanance!
I am who I am because of who you are!
I pledge my life before you, but what I pledge is nothing compared to what you gave on that Cross for me.

Because, you gave it all that day. Oh light of the world,
Creator of all,
The word became flesh,
The lion of Judah
And the worthy lamb.

You are exhalted! You are worth, You are truth, You are guidance, You are the comfort, You are the cure to purposlessness, You have the plan, you have the hope, In you all things sustain, because of you we all live, it is you who holds the key, it is your word that stand final! because no one, no one in this world will ever compare to you.

Because you love the poor,
You love the hurt,
You love the broken, the lost, the ones that have lost all hope.

It is you who calls them, It is you who Calls them Qualified! It is you who calls them Children it is you who exhalts them and say This is my child, in whom I am well pleased! It is your glory that shines through them, that causes them to tremble in fear and awe, to walk in humbleness and still shine the greatness of all who you are.

Because you have called the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. You, are incomprehensible, You are God, You are My Father, You are the blessed and most Holy one in all the earth! God Almighty!

Amen.

A Reminder, and a blessing

It's funny how life brings you into lows, and how things occur to make you angry, sad, and frustrated. But yet in all these situations, there's still happiness, joy, love and peace. I am reminded that God is love, and in Him there is no darkness. I am reminded that we are God's children and that we too are called to love. But I am even more thankful that through trials and burden situations, i have friends whom surround me, brothers and sisters whom God has put into my life. To remind me of all the good things that God has put into my life, simply by causing each of us to speak of what God has done in our lives..

No doubt that sometimes life is screwed up royally, but the royalty in God supersedes the screwed up parts of life, and brings me to a place of peace. It's God who takes care of me, gives me peace. It is God who rules, and It is He who is with Me. Somehow when we speak and pour out in an audible voice to our Father in heaven, He gets us to where we need to be, He encourages us, and He places peace in our hearts and reminds us to pray for those who may have offended us or want to cause harm to us. To pray for those who are to judge us, and for those who rule and govern. Some how or another God cares no matter what comes our way, He cares in every way possible.

People may speak into your life, sometimes it hurts, sometimes it angers, sometimes it brings joy, sometimes doubt. But when God speaks, it'll always be better, if it hurts, it heals. If it frustrates, it brings peace, when it brings joy it excites. That is God's words, amazing in every way.

Thank you God!
Thank you Father!
I love you!

-Chris

Jesus my King forever (indie)

whoops! Seems like I didn't post this up!

hehe:

Em

C

G

My Lips will praise your name

My heart Rejoice in you

I find no other like you,

Only you my King of Kings

You're my light, my God, my life.

And Salvation to my soul.

For Life is in your hands,

No fear, but love and might.

Am

Em

Coz you....

Are my Refuge

Am

D

Coz you....

Am my Strong hold.

C

G

In you I am redeemed,

Em

D

In you forgiveness of Sin

C

G

Em

D

In you  There's a plan hope and life

Am

Em

G

C

OH Jesus,

Oh Jesus (x2)

Jesus my king forever.x2

Make this heart your homex2

Jesus my King forever

#

Hi all, 

as I promised the video audio of my song I wrote before :)

God bless! 

-Chris

What if...

So we walk this earth, pondering and wondering about our purpose in life, or why things work the way it is, and when we reach the pinnacle of what we are searching for we drop it all because we realized how meaningless it is, and how much it was all just about the ride towards it.

But you know, perhaps it's simpler than that, perhaps the purpose in life is to enjoy oneself and to enjoy it in what actually brings a longer sense of pleasure, good for our bodies, good for our soul, good for our spirit. Thing is, you need to know God didn't see you any different from any others. He loves you the same, be you the ugliest sinner of them all, or outer appearances are nothing to God. The fact you live, means you were given this chance, to live a life planned out by Him.

For sure not all will be going toward His plans, but for those who choose or more accurately He calls, He will put forward a plan, nothing to do with sin, pleasures of life seem so sort, and then guilt sets in, there's a reason for that, even a child who has been brought up in such a scenario will eventually some how come to a realisation of what is happening is wrong. I don't scorn you neither do I condemn you for your sins, heck I have sins, none of which I believe could be any "lighter" than yours, but that's not the point, we work out our salvation, we let God teach us, guide us, and lead us, one way or another we'll end up walking away from this sin, and if we do fall over, we know that we can confess it to God and He who is just and righteous will forgive all our sins and restore us. It's not an easy thing, there's no escapism to it, but there is God, there is a loving Father in heaven who wants the best for you, and He said, you're worth it.

Worst sin ever? well Here's news for you, Jesus bore it, on the cross, He bore it once and for all, so that your fight with sin not be one of enslavement but of victory and enablement, in fact the very death of sin is put into place, and you can walk free, you can walk towards your greater glory knowing that Sin has no ruling powers over you, but in fact is so dead, that you can walk away and it won't chase you no more. Does that mean temptation is gone? nope, does that mean you won't walk back to that dead thing? possibly, what happens if you do? then you just need to turn around and head back to the Father. Simple? yeap, too good to be true? nope because Christ has to suffer for this, it's not free, it's not too good to be true, there's so much He had to do, sinless, tempted beyond measure, tortured, and crucified one of the most painful ways to go, while bleeding out continously. This is the price, is it too good to be true? It's good alright, but it's true, too good in a sense that it sounds like one big scam, that some how it's too easy, it wasn't so quit calling it that.

Truth be told, many Christians will tell you a walk with Christ is not the easiest thing on this planet, but it's worth it. It's not one that you can constantly chill, but it's manageable, it's not over burdensome, and well frankly it's amazing because you can do what you do with Him.

Over all it's really about this walk with Christ you have, what you have in Him is amazing, the moment you receive Him as Lord and saviour, one is salvation from hell. Yeah that's right Hell exists and it's as bad as it sounds, but the good news is that you're out of it. If you think you're righteous enough and don't need Christ, you can go ahead, but no guarantees aite? I'm not going to sugar coat it, I'm not going to say that hell doesn't exist, but neither will I say that you should believe in Christ soley because of escaping hell. The fact is, fear is not the way back to God, it's love, it's running to Him in love and having a heart drawn towards Him, He does want to prosper you, and give you a good life, but a good life doesn't mean one that is dull, dead and frankly idle, it's one He planned and He knows you can execute and live out, but more so a life with Him restored. Fact: with no love there is no belief in Christ as your saviour. Loveless relationship with God will bring you in a lifeless walk, and you may even end up blaming God for everything, but He might just look down and cry, and say I had plans for you, why not come why not listen? but we turn our backs and close our ears off because we messed up and expected following God to be our own plans, unfortunately not the case.

There's no two ways about it, God is God and He will not share His throne. So if you think this is primitive, and old. look back into human history and you will find, we are just repeating a cycle over an over again, just this time we have technology, last time we didn't.

A Sin is a Sin, Christ's blood is the power to wipe it out, and His grace is well... so much, and continuous.

I do not advertise God, I only share with you the good news I have come to hear and learn and embrace, the choice is yours. But if you choose to go down this path with God, I will say you should never regret it, but always fall back on God when you have questions :).

Salvation prayer:-
God, thank you for sending your son down, Jesus Christ to be my Lord and saviour, I now confess Him as my Lord and saviour and believe that His blood has cleansed me from all my sin, Lead me in all my ways, and Holy spirit guide me continously.

Amen

advice:- I advise you to find a church, and get acquainted with one you feel comfortable with, if it contradicts the bible God's word and you find this out, ask questions, but always remember the word of God is final, there is nothing that overwrites His word, don't let any one ever convince you otherwise.